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people lost trust

You are so right in saying that people had lost the trust of ordinary people by majority parties who were demanding answers rather then doing that during the election times

The forgotten people have decided to forget Australia’s political class, Treasurer Scott Morrison has warned, saying the major parties had lost the trust of ordinary people who were demanding answers and not petty point scoring.

Ahead of a key speech to the Liberal Party’s Federal conference today, Mr Morrison signalled the Federal Government would ditch ideology as it sought to reassure Australians it understood the economic squeeze they have faced since the global financial crisis.

In an exclusive interview with The Weekend West, Mr Morrison said economic circumstances had changed dramatically since 2008 but many of the political battles and ideas of recent years had taken place without recognising the changed economic reality for most people.

Wages were no longer growing quickly and people relied more on services to ease financial pressures. Mr Morrison said the parties and media had failed to adapt to the change.

“The public has turned the volume on Canberra down. The whole political class,” he said. “Today’s forgotten people have also decided to forget all of us, the political class. They’ve become disconnected from it.”

“I’m not saying they’re switching off from the Liberal Party, they’re not switching off to the government or the opposition or the media, it’s switching off to all of the above.”

Mr Morrison said because the world economy had changed so much since the GFC, the “economic stakes” were higher for policymakers.

He conceded the cuts in the 2014 Budget, in areas such as education and health, had not only cost the Government political support but may have fed into negative views about the economy. People who worried about whether they could afford to take their children to a doctor for instance, were likely to be anxious about their economic future.

“We paid a heavy price for the decisions that were made on services early on and that really undermined people’s level of assurance,” Mr Morrison said.

The Government has yet to see any improvement in polls since its Budget last month which included the $23.5 billion lift in education spending.

He said it would be a long grind to win over support, saying the political “ice was deep and thick”.

Leaders such as Donald Trump and British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson were connecting because they were speaking directly to people in a manner that showed they understood their concerns.

In the case of the US President, Mr Morrison said he was tapping the need for people to be optimistic. “That’s where I think Trump has just been remarkably successfully,” he said. “He hasn’t cut taxes yet or any number of other things but he has captured the optimistic imagination which is where he is trying to get the American people’s heads at,” he said.

Mr Morrison said voters were now member of many “teams” which meant there was no requirement for them to adhere to the Liberal Party’s view of the world.

That meant the party had to prove it was on the side of voters.

“It’s not about getting people to be on our side in politics, it’s about demonstrating to people that we’re on theirs,” he said.